I'm holding my temples with the fingers of my left hand, trying to take away the pain in my head. But the pain only gets worse and shows no sign of subsiding.
In front of me, the Warlovian Imperial Guard commanders Chang and Warka are down on one knee in awe. Behind them, the captured officers of the Kingdom of Burial army are waiting in the same way. All of their eyes are serious. I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere.
Matkal, Knogen, Rufana and their wives, who were standing next to me, were also in a state of shock. Vieille is not ....... He had left this room just a few minutes ago, saying that he was going back to his country.
......Why did things have to turn out this way after all this time when I thought everything was going to be all right?
I look up at the sky. What the hell am I supposed to do?
The first time I saw a man who was not a member of the group, I was surprised to see him.
So far, so good. After leaving Dorga and spending the night in the forest, we were preparing to retreat to Agartha. At that time, a messenger came from the main camp of the Warlovian army and begged us to return to Dolga. I wanted to say, "Which is it, leave or return?" But when the messenger rubbed his head against the ground and pleaded with us, we had no choice but to return to Durga.
After a while, General Gesikhana appeared with Sheeva and thanked him for recapturing Dolga and apologized for Sheeva's impolite behavior. He even proposed to invite me and Vieille to the capital to thank and receive the emperor personally. I was indeed shocked at the stunning turn of events.
Later, I heard that Vieille had made a subtle threat to the emperor without my knowledge.
Needless to say, the cult he leads has the largest number of followers in the world. He told Siwa that he could do just that.
He also told them that he could use his followers to create a negative campaign against the Warlov Empire, especially against Gesikana and Sheeva. We can't let the whole world hear what we are, what we are not, what we are not, what we are not, what we are not. Besides, the prestige of the Warlov empire itself would fall. Any fool would tremble.
And so General Gesikhana and Sheeva came to us for the time being with nothing more than what they could get. It was obvious that they were bluffing, as it would be difficult to get a direct permission from the Emperor in such a short period of time, but it seemed to be a desperate stretch on the part of Gesyana and Sheeva, as if they could do such a thing themselves.
I told them that there was no need to do so, but they insisted on staying in Durga until the arrival of the Prime Minister, San Marco Rosenheim, from the Imperial capital. They told me that it would take two weeks. They seemed to think that I and Vieille were too busy.
Rei rejected their request, telling them to tell His Majesty of the Heedata Empire. He insisted that he wanted to return home as soon as possible.
Vieille intervened to give the soldiers a rest, and they decided to stay in Dorga for five days as originally planned. After that, Gesikana and Siwa made various proposals, but in the end, their opinions were not accepted at all and things proceeded according to Vieille's demands. At that time, I thought that there would be no problem if we, the Agartha army, withdrew first, but I now know the true reason for that.
Exactly five days later, Vieille left the room saying that he would withdraw first. She laughed at my sarcasm, saying that her presence would only increase their discomfort, when Gesikana and Sheeva would be coming soon to pick up the durga. She refused to see Gesikana and Sheeva, saying that there was no point in provoking the Warlovs any further.
But it was all a ruse on her part.
It was not long afterwards that a shocking report came in. The soldiers of Hiyama had turned against her.
According to the original plan, the Warlovian army led by Gesikana and Sheeva was to seize Hiyama and move the prisoners to a suitable location. However, when the imperial troops arrived in Hiyama, the gates were closed and they did not allow them to enter even a single step inside. On the contrary, they resisted them with arrows and bows, which puzzled the imperial troops greatly.
Naturally, there were Imperial troops inside the fort. Even the imperial troops pointed bows and arrows at General Gesikana and his men.
They gave up on seizing Hiyama and turned their heads toward Durga. It was just then that I received the report.
Chan, Worker, and the commanders of the Royal Burial Army all appeared before us, awed. As I was wondering what was going on, Chan made a shocking statement.
"We have closed the gates of Hiyama. We have also closed the gates of this durga. We would like to refuse to allow the Warlovian army to seize it.
"What? What do you mean?"
"I humbly beg of you, King Agartha, to do me a favor."
What is it?
"Will you join us ...... with Dorga and Hiyama here under the banner of the king of Agartha?"
What?
"Here in Warlov, both you and Commander Chang are just waiting to be beheaded. And ...... the generals of the Royal Burial Army here won't be treated well either. That's why ......"
"Wait a minute. You're joining my banner? Isn't that funny? We are here to reinforce Warlov.
You are absolutely right. However, ......"
"With all due respect, we, the forces of the Kingdom of Burial, have not surrendered to the Warlovian Empire. We surrendered to the forces of Agartha. We surrendered to you out of respect for your brilliant strategy and your moderate military behavior ......."
"That's what I've been told. ....... You guys got something from Vieille, don't you?"
"......"
Everyone looks at each other when I say something. I activate my appraisal skill because it's too much trouble.
...... is the best word I can use to describe it. She had Toitz, one of the commanders of the Warlov Empire, tell her the strategy after the seizure of Hiyama and Dorga. According to the report, she wanted to remove the two men, Chang and Waqa, by charging them with violating military orders, and even take their lives. As for the prisoners of war, they were to be held hostage for negotiations with the Kingdom of Burial. But perhaps the kingdom would not agree to negotiations. In that case, they planned to use the prisoners of war as a part of the team to repair Hiyama and Dorga. In other words, they were going to use them as forced labor until they died.
And when the restoration of Dorga and Hiyama was completed, they planned to invade the Kingdom of Burial at the first opportunity. It was absurd to say the least, but the stupidity of the military leaders of this country, who were willing to do such a reckless thing, was truly frightening.
...... But still, Vieille... What the hell do you think you're doing by embarrassing me? What the hell do you want?